It's great to be able to talk to you again about what's been
going on with team. A lot has gone on since we last made contact.

We ended up losing to Saint Joseph's on Breast Cancer
awareness night. Although the girls started off well, we ended up
allowing St. Joe's to pull away at the end to claim the win. St. Joe's
has received the #5 seed in the Conference Tourney that will take place this
weekend, Friday, March 2nd - Monday, March 5th.

Following the St. Joe's game, we took on Saint Louis (a
familiar current and past conference foe). We played them at home the
second game of the season and ended up pulling out a close win. Since we
last saw them, they definitely had gotten even better. We started the
game off pretty slow with four back to back to back to back turnovers.
Nonetheless, we were able to battle back and keep the score close the entire
game. The game ended up going into overtime where we blew a four point
lead with roughly 20 seconds left in OT to lose by one measly point. If
you can only imagine how devastated we were after the game.

Finally after a disappointing loss to Saint Louis, we had
one game to prepare for - Richmond. Richmond has always been a consistent
contender in our league. This year they played well throughout the
conference season and their losses were all pretty much very close losses to
the teams ahead of them. So we knew we were in for a battle.
Surprisingly, we found the old 49er team and we came out of the gates
ready. We lead the entire game only allowing them to get within three
points one time. Then we pulled away again to claim the victory.
Richmond still finished fourth in the conference claiming a first round
bye. This was a very rewarding game to play. We've been through a
lot of ups and downs this season with winning streaks then losing streaks and
we really needed this win to get us going. It also happened to be Senior
Night where we honored our two seniors, Katie Meador and Epiphany
Woodson. So to get a win yesterday felt good. Hopefully we can
carry that momentum into the Conference Tournament this Friday.

So we ended up finishing sixth in the league and will take
on our very well known opponent, Saint Louis. Now the good thing is we
are very familiar with them having played them less than a week ago. This
will be our third meeting this season and we definitely shouldn't need any
motivation to come out and compete. Hopefully we will have that Charlotte
team that made an appearance yesterday show up to play them. We will need
your support though to do that! Cick here for the bracket to help show you
what road we will have to take to claim another championship. So please
continue to support us and remember always WEAR GREEN and GO NINERS!

I'm going to go with the Love theme
for the day for my blog...yeah I know I'm not too original huh?

I'm a music lover. Music is always playing in my car,
my office, my house...ALWAYS. What music I listen to depends on the day and
what I'm feeling. Today ironically while I was working out "We All Want
Love" by Rihanna shuffled through my playlist and so did "Bleed Red" by Ronnie
Dunn. Music lyrics can describe exactly what you are going through
sometimes....

"Everybody wants something. Better want something. What are
you living for? Fighting for something. We all want the same
thing....We all want the same thing"

Our last week wasn't perfect by any means and we fell short
of our goals and we know it. In moments like this you have to remind each
other...."We all want the same thing. We are all fighting for something."
We are still fighting for a bye in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament and we
are in complete control of our destiny. We don't have to hope, wish, etc. as
long as we control what we can control. That is still the positive and beauty
in all of this. All you ever want is another chance and sports more so
than anything in life gives you second and third chances to make things
right. We have that opportunity over the next week and a half.

The other thing you learn in these moments is that we all
fall down. Even the best fall down but the best stand up a lot faster
than everyone else. We all bleed red, we all are strong sometimes.
Sometimes we're weak. You have to teach young people that things are
never as bad as they seem and things are never as good as it seems so you have
to stay balanced. And you FIGHT BACK, you BOUNCE BACK; you get back to
being who you are. That's CHARLOTTE BASKETBALL!

On Saturday we play host to Saint
Joseph's who we are tied with in the conference. It's our PINK game to
honor those who are battling breast cancer or who have battled breast
cancer. All of us have loved ones you have been affected by this
disease. Show your love and support by coming to our game Saturday,
wearing pink, and honoring some of the strongest people in life....cancer
fighters!!! See you Saturday 49ers!!

Hey Niner
Nation,
It's February which means we are deep into the season and working on
positioning ourselves for another run at post season play. We currently have
five A-10 games left, three of which are on the road so we have to continue to
prepare well and stay focused.

I like to use my blog entry to give you an inside look at our program so today I'm
going to write about our in-season recruiting. Coaching our team and scouting
opponents takes much of our time but on top of that, we have to continue to
recruit student-athletes for our future classes. Coach Angela Crosby is our
Recruiting Coordinator and does a great job keeping us organized but all of our
staff takes a shared responsibility in recruiting. Each of my assistants lead
our recruiting efforts in different regions and are responsible for going to
scout recruits, arranging visits, corresponding with coaches and also finding
new names to add to our list. Every Monday Coach Crosby passes out a chart that
organizes our correspondence for the week with our top targets for the upcoming
2013 class. For each day of the week every top recruit will receive some type
of correspondence from one of us on the coaching staff. It may be a Facebook
message, email, a phone call to her high school coach or a hand written note.
We want to make sure they hear from Charlotte often!

We are also constantly traveling to see players either locally or regionally.
By NCAA rules we are allowed to use 100 days to watch prospects and our program
will use each and every one if those days. This means that there are really no
off days this time of year. When my assistant coaches aren't working on a scout
for our next opponent, they are on the road watching a high school game or
going to a practice or tournament. They may even miss our own practice to do
this.

I also get out and see recruits as much as I can. It's a little tougher for me
because in my first year as Head Coach because I don't want to miss any
practices. So that really narrows down days that I can travel. When we have an
off day from practice I am almost always traveling to see a game. We also
utilize road trips when possible. For example, earlier this season when we
played at George Washington, three of the coaches went recruiting in the
Washington, D.C. area. We landed at Washington Reagan airport and the team went
to hotel while the three of us jumped in a taxi or rental car to catch a game.

It is certainly a lot of work but we all understand that next to developing our
current student-athletes as both people and players; recruiting is one of the
most important things that we do. Hopefully our hard work on the recruiting
trail will pay off with many winning seasons to come!

Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you in Halton on February 18
when we take on St. Joseph's in our Play 4 Kay game. For one time only leave
your green and wear pink to support this great cause.

Greetings and happy 2012 from your Director of Operations; I
hope you have not given up on your New Year's resolutions yet, you only have 11
more months to go. For this blog I want our fans to catch a small glimpse into
traveling with the Niners... come on I'm the travel guy, I had to say something
about it. Then at the end I'm going to attempt to be a salesman, you'll see.

On Wednesday January 25th we played Fordham at 7:00 pm... and
won. But as you can imagine MUCH preparation and planning went into this
victory. It first starts approximately three months in advance when Head Coach
Cara Consuegra and I discuss flight options for the trip. We typically like to
get to the city in which we play about 24 hours in advance, in Fordham's case,
the Bronx, New York. After careful consideration of flight times, airfares,
when we can practice, and the player's class schedule we chose a US Airways
flight that departed Charlotte at 2:26 pm and arrived at LaGuardia airport in
New York at 4:15 pm. Return flights are a bit more complicated. If it's a 2:00
game, typically we can get back the same day, but for 7:00 games, we have to
fly out early the next morning. Missing class is something Coach Cara does not
mess around with. She does everything to make sure the girls miss the least
amount of class possible; this is a top priority of hers. After selecting the
flight, everything else falls into place. I then book our hotel. We try and
stay at full service hotels where we can have a full hot breakfast, meeting space
for study hall and film, and a workout facility for rehab if necessary. Next, I
schedule our charter bus needs. Most would think we need just one bus, in New
York. However, we actually need three. Bus 1 is a shuttle that takes us from
Halton Arena to Charlotte Douglas Airport, Bus 2 is our "local bus" that drives
us while in New York, and Bus 3 is another shuttle that picks us up at
Charlotte Douglas airport and returns us to campus. I then contact the opposing
school to find out when we can have a shoot around time. The last major
component is food. This is a HUGE component of our trip. Our student athletes
can put some food away, and I mean A LOT... but, please remember, we burn well
over 2,000 + calories per day.

For
your viewing and curiosity pleasure, below this blog I have posted our Travel
Itinerary for you. You will notice that it is VERY detailed. It has
departure/arrival times, weather forecast, attire for each activity, and even
what piece of luggage to use. On a side note, Darin Spease, Senior Associate Athletic
Director in charge of the Business Department for Charlotte Athletics will be
happy to know we save on average $300 per FLIGHT by using small carry-on bags
instead of big pieces of luggage. I hope this will give each of you a look into
how the Niners travel.

And lastly, let me end with a short marketing and sales
pitch. There are two chances to see your Niners in action here at home. First
come tomorrow night, Wednesday February 1st at 7:00 as we play the
UMass Minutewomen. For those that are Fast Break Club Members only, our pregame
reception will be at 6:00 pm in the SAC Salons. This looks to be a great game
between the two teams.

And for the grand finale, on Saturday February 4th
make sure you run all your weekend errands prior to 4:00 pm. Many of our alumni
are coming back and playing in our annual Alumni Basketball game. Come and
watch as your past Niners prove they still got it. This is always a fun event
and allows Niner Nation to remember the many fond memories here at Halton and honor
those who laced up their shoes for this great institution. The actual game vs.
Rhode Island will start at 7:00 pm. This is also National Girls and Women in
Sports Day and a kid's clinic will be held from 5:30-6:15 pm on the Recreation
courts above the main court. Hopefully this will be a fun filled
afternoon/evening for the entire family, and another slash for Charlotte in the
win column.

What an exciting week of basketball! So I will get right to the details!

Last Wednesday I experienced my first Education Day with the 49ers and it was AWESOME!
There were over 6,500 people in attendance and the phrase home court advantage
was redefined! The kids were so excited and loud which made our players really
play hard. They did not want to disappoint that group of kids. Now on to
the game... LaSalle arrived at Halton Arena undefeated in conference, so we
knew this would be a tough game against an up and coming LaSalle team. At
halftime we were tied up and knew that we needed to play 20 more minutes of
good basketball. In the second half we had several players step up and make
some big plays for us. That is one of the many great things about this team.
Our opponents can't focus on one or two players. We have people who can step up
at any given time. We won that game by double digits but it was a tough
game. We feel very blessed to come away with a win.

On Saturday night, we hosted conference foe St. Bonaventure.
They also came into Halton Arena undefeated and boy were we in for a fight! St.
Bonaventure came in pretty confident as they had beaten some pretty tough teams
in non-conference and in the Atlantic 10. Our players were really focused days
prior to that game as they reminded each other that we would have to play
extremely well to beat a team as solid as the Bonnies. We battled back
and forth during the entire first half and went into the break up five. We knew
we could not relax because they were known to have really strong second half
performances. So we talked things over and prepared to go out and give it our
best shot! Things went well for us early in the second half as we maintained
our lead. But in the last five minutes of the game is when things got a little
tough for us. They hit some tough shots and we could not stop them. We also struggled
from the free throw line and could not buy a basket when we really needed one.
It was a tough loss for us but we knew that we had to regroup for a tough
Fordham team.

Fordham is known to be a very strong three-point shooting
team and when that is the case you have to be very careful to contest all of
their shots. They have a new coach and a lot of new players and they play
extremely hard. After the loss to St. Bonaventure, it was important for us to
bounce back with a win because every game means something different for your
program and we did not want to lose two in a row. We practiced hard and focused on Fordham and
also on things that would make us better as a team. (Ex. Free throws and layups)
We had really good practices leading up to the Fordham game so we were ready to
compete again. We started the game a little sluggish but as time went on we
begin to play "Charlotte" basketball. A few fast break points as well as
getting the ball inside always seems to get us on track. We also had several
hustle plays in the first half that got us going...There is nothing like seeing
the girls dive on the floor. After the break our defense picked up and we were
able to pull away. I am always happy to see the girls get fired up and chest
bump after a good play. Now that's a lot of fun! We finished the game with
several people doing some good things although we had a lead....That's the sign
of a good team getting ready for a nice run in A-10 play.

We will play Temple this Sunday at 2pm on CBS Sports
Network. If you can't be there... cheer us on!

It's been a while since I've been able to speak to you, but
I couldn't be more excited to fill you in on what the Charlotte 49ers Women's
Basketball team has been up to lately! We just recently began Conference
play on Saturday, January 7th. Since then, we have gone 3-0
with wins at Xavier, at home versus Saint Louis and at George Washington.
I must say, we really are big on letting games go down to the wire.

We hosted Saint Louis last Wednesday, January 11th.
As many of you may already know, we have the pleasure of playing Saint Louis
twice every year. Every team gets to play an opponent in the conference
twice and Saint Louis is our team. Here is a quick side note for
you... Saint Louis used to be in Conference USA with us back in 2005.
When the conference broke up, they headed to the A-10 with us. So we have
a lot of history with them. On another note, we ended up barely getting
the win. After having a reasonable lead earlier in the second half, we
ended up allowing them back in the game. One of their guards proved to be
difficult to handle for us. She was able to get her team back in the game
by hitting huge shots down the stretch. But, we will take the win however
we can get it.

Saturday was a similar story up in Washington, D.C. as we
took on George Washington. If you guys don't know much about them, they
used to rule the conference back when we first joined the A-10 in 2006.
They haven't been that same team since they graduated that talented
group. But they definitely are still extremely competitive. We saw
that first hand this past weekend. It was a close game the entire way.
At one point we pulled away, but not by much. It came down to two big
plays by one of our freshman, Ayanna Holmes. She hit two big shots at the
end of the game that gave us the win. That's always encouraging to watch
your young kids grow. She definitely stepped up and showed us what type
of player she is.

Now we have two big games this week. Tomorrow we take
on La Salle, who is also undefeated in league play. They are playing
great. And if you all remember, last year we went up there and got a
beating. So we definitely owe them, but it won't be easy. They have
some new faces this year that have been carrying the load of their team.
We also have St. Bonaventure coming in on Saturday. They too beat us at
their place last year on National television. St. Bonaventure is having a
great year. Right now they only have two losses and have beat some
significant teams. This will be a test for us. La Salle, St.
Bonaventure and Charlotte are the only three undefeated teams in conference
play right now. By the end of the week, there will be at least one of us
with a loss, if not two. So we need your support in Halton Arena!
Can we count on you?! We need you there on Wednesday at 12pm and Saturday
at 7pm. We'll be looking for you!!!!! And remember wear GREEN and
GO NINERS!

Hello Niner Nation and Happy New Year. I'm not big on New Year resolutions only
because I'm a realist and I know that I will have good intentions but my follow
through will be messed up just like it used to be with my shot. My ball always had a sideward spin to it. =)

We have started A-10 play and we are 1-0 with a big road win
over Xavier this past Saturday. I know
that we snapped all kinds of their crazy conference win streaks which I am
happy about but now I want to focus on working to make Charlotte win streaks
happen. It's important that we gain
confidence and get a good bounce to our step with that road win but we have to
stay focused on what's ahead and move on with the same intensity and effort for
our next game vs. Saint Louis tomorrow.
One game at a time. It's a long
season and winning is an everyday process.
I once was told the story of the bamboo tree and I a lot of times feel
like I am a bamboo farmer since we began this season in September. The story
goes like this....

When the Chinese plant bamboo, first they plant seeds, then
water and fertilize them. The first year
(first month for us) nothing happens.
The second year (second month) they continue to water and fertilize the
seeds, and still nothing happens. The
farmer continues the process for a 3rd and 4th year (third and fourth month)
with no visual results. Then sometime in
the 5th year in a period of approx. 6 weeks, the Chinese bamboo grows 90
feet. If the farmer had given up when he
didn't visually see any results and not kept watering and fertilizing the seeds
there would be no bamboo.

It's the same way for us with our team. Everything can look like it's not working in
the middle. Wins are often the result of
persistence - of not giving up when everything seems to be difficult. We water and fertilize daily with discipline
and hard work. We plant seeds of
character and lessons. Our bamboo hasn't
grown 90 feet yet but we know it's growing.
Our players' persistence and consistency one day will have beautiful
results. "Relentless consistency" is
what we are striving for everyday. "Let
us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not
grow weary." Galatians 6:9.

Come out and support your 49ers during A-10 conference
play. See you in Halton.

Happy New Year from all of us here at Charlotte Women's Basketball. I hope that
you had a wonderful Holiday season. For us, our time off was short. After a
great win over North Carolina A&T on December 21, our players and staff
were off for four days. Everyone was able to get home and spend time with family
and friends. My husband and I spent our Christmas back in Milwaukee and it was
my first time with his family during the holiday. It was great to go back to a
place I called "home" for the previous seven years and we had a wonderful
time and of course, ate very well!

All players and coaches reported back on December 26 and
we got to work. We had several long practices, including a two-a-day, to get us
back into playing mode and prepare for the upcoming tournament hosted by FIU in
Miami. We got down to Miami and played Auburn first and unfortunately did not
get off to a good start. We quickly found ourselves in a 19 point deficit, but
we refused to quit. We battled all the way back to take the lead with four
minutes to go in the game, but couldn't quite close it out. It was a
disappointing defeat but I was pleased to see that our team is learning to
battle. It takes a lot of toughness and heart to come back like that, so I am
sure it will pay off down the road. We played Albany the next day and were able
to get out of there with a victory.

Last night we finished out the non-conference portion of
our schedule with a decisive win over Furman. I challenged the team before the
game that everyone needed to play a complete game and I really thought we were
close to doing that. We have now won 3 out of our last 4 games and plan to
carry that momentum into the A10 season. We start off with a tough one at
Xavier on Saturday, but I am confident that our tough schedule has prepared us
for this.

Thanks for your continued support this season and I hope
to see you in one week for our A10 home opener on January 11 vs. Saint Louis.
Wear Green!

Welcome to the Holiday Edition of the WBB Blog. I first want
to say a HUGE congrats to our Men's Soccer team for an unbelievable run in the
NCAA tournament. What an inspiration they are to all sports team's here at
Charlotte and to this university as a whole. Truth be told, I got teary eyed
watching the team walk into the stands and thank Niner Nation for their
support. As an alum here at this great institution, it was a touching moment.
If it wasn't clear before, then it should be now... Niner Nation is alive and
strong.

The women's basketball student-athletes are hard at work
right now, but not necessary with basketball. As you all know, this is exam
week and the team is really focusing on being successful and finishing up
strong in each of their classes. One small way to motivate the team to be
successful in the class room is our academic competition. The three assistants
and myself each have an academic team comprised of three to four players. The
team with the highest GPA at the end wins a meal free of buying the groceries,
preparing the food, and cleaning up. Team 3, my team, is looking good so far.
But when all is said and done, you of course want all to succeed.

You'll be very happy to know the team has certainly gotten
into the holiday season by giving. In over a week's time, the team took a few
hours out of their day and visited the Levine Children's Hospital in downtown
Charlotte. They made some crafts, gave out posters and put a big smile and some
children who really needed. A new tradition that is being started is the Fox
Charlotte Angel Tree. Our team broke up into two groups and selected one boy
and one girl to give gifts to. They bought everything from a football, to a
coat, an etch-a-sketch, gloves, a dippin' dots maker, remote control car and much
more. And lastly, the team participated
in the annual department wide Toys for Tots drive.

After exams, our next game will be against the Ohio State
Buckeyes in Columbus, OH. Tip off will be Monday Dec 19th at 2:00
pm. But be sure to come out to Halton Arena and get your women's basketball fix
just before Christmas we take on North Carolina A&T on Wednesday Dec. 21st
at 7:00 pm. The support you have shown thus far has been incredible and we
appreciate your enthusiasm. Keep it up Niner Nation!

It is hard to believe that the semester is coming to an end!
We had a week off in regards to games so it gave us an opportunity to break
things down in practice and film. And as we all know, film always tells the
truth.

Off the court the girls were busy finishing up papers and
getting organized for exams. It takes a lot of work this time of year to get
everything done and fulfill all of their commitments. It is a very critical
time of year and I am glad we work with young ladies who want to excel in all
aspects of their lives.

On Saturday, we traveled to Florida to take on FSU on
Sunday. What a hard fought game. From the tip our players competed and executed
as well as we know they can. FSU had lost three in a row, so we made sure to
match their intensity from the start. We battled back and forth with FSU
throughout the entire game but unfortunately we were unable to come back with a
win. But with that type of effort we are definitely a better team.

As we enjoy our holiday season, I encourage each of you to
reach out to those who may not have very much during this time. I have been overly impressed with all the
many ways we support our community here at Charlotte so let's make sure we
reach out and do the same during the holiday season.

UNC Wilmington will be here on Wednesday Dec. 7th
at 7pm so come out and wear "Green"!

I hope you all enjoyed the holidays! The 49ers were on
the road during the Thanksgiving break. We first headed to Richmond, VA
to take on the VCU Rams. The Rams are in the CAA Conference where they compete
against teams like JMU, Delaware, ODU, etc. Fortunately, we had a pretty
good size crowd with support from Gabby Tyler's family (only being an hour or
so away), Coach Cara's family, and other players' families - Epiphany Woodson,
Ayanna Holmes, etc. It was great to have that kind of support on the road
especially during the holidays.

The game turned out to be a battle. VCU went on a
stretch where they either scored or went to the FT line consistently.
However, we did not give up. Every time they scored, we would
score. Eventually we won the battle. It was a good win to get on
the road.

The next day we headed to Brooklyn, NY where we competed in
the Long Island University tournament featuring Long Island, La Salle, and
Florida. We arrived on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, and headed
straight to dinner. After dinner, we surprised the girls with tickets to
the Broadway show - Spiderman. I have to admit, that was my first time at
a Broadway show and I absolutely enjoyed it. The player that probably
enjoyed it the most was Jai Forney #23. She is obsessed with
Spiderman! After the show, we headed back to the hotel to get a good
night's rest. The next day we practiced and ate Thanksgiving dinner as a
team. It was nice to be able to have Thanksgiving dinner even though we
were away from home.

Friday we began playing tournament games. We took on
LIU. Not only was it their tournament, but it was also their first home
contest. They played their first three games on the road. So we knew
it would be a tough bout. We came out very slow and we weren't playing
the way we were capable of playing. We ended up digging ourselves a hole that
we were not being able to recover from. We lost that game and had to turn
around and get prepared for Florida the very next day.

We were a little livelier the next day. The last time
we had faced Florida was at home in the Postseason WNIT. We ended their
season the previous year. This was the third time we were playing them in
less than a year. So we knew they would be ready. We started off
way better than the day before. The game was close pretty much the entire
time until we went on a run in the second half. Although we built a small
lead, Florida fought back. We ended up losing once again. It was a
tough weekend, but I think we learned a very valuable lesson. This week
we are off until Sunday when we travel to Florida State. This again will
be a tough match, but we will definitely be ready. Until next time, WEAR
GREEN AND GO NINERS!

Every year it feels like time flies and we are already into the
Holiday season. The 49ers are off to a great start at 4-0. We have a
big week this week starting tonight at VCU in Richmond. We will be
spending Thanksgiving in New York City and will play Long Island and
Florida. Every day we are getting stronger. We have a sign next to our
lockeroom door that the players hit as they walk out before every game.
It says "Toughness is in the soul and spirit not in the muscles.". I
think we are getting better every day as a team understanding that kind
of toughness. Thanksgiving is a time to spend quality time with family
and to give thanks for all of God's blessings. Although we will not be
with our own families, we will be with our 49er Basketball family to
enjoy a great meal together and appreciate each day. Last week the
Women's Basketball community lost 2 colleagues in Head Coach Kurt Budke
and Asst Coach Miranda Serna from Oklahoma State to a horrible tragedy.
Our prayers and support go out to all so those affected. They will be
remembered for the impact they had on young people which is the #1
reason we all choose this profession. It is a chilling reminder that we
have plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving even in our trials and
struggles. Thank you Charlotte fans for your support. It doesn't go
unnoticed and we hope to see even more of you at our next home game.
GOOD LUCK to our Men's Soccer team in the 3rd round of the NCAA on
Sunday... Way to set the standard for the rest of us!! Much Love this
week for everyone... Enjoy your families

Basketball
season is officially underway and we are off to a 2-0 start after beating
both Presbyterian and Arkansas State over the weekend. Friday night
was a doubleheader with the men's team and my first official game as head coach
of the 49ers! It was an incredible feeling to walk out of that tunnel and then
win the first game ever of my career...that is something I will never forget.

Since
it's the season, I thought I would give you an inside look at what a game day
is like for our team...

5
HOURS TO TIP: Shoot
Around. This is the first time we see our players on game day. Here we spend a
lot of time doing what you expect...shooting. However, we also use the hour to
go over any last minute game plan adjustments and always walk through our
opponent's out of bounds plays. We finish with a shooting competition amongst
the team and we pick the teams in a variety of ways. We've had
upperclassmen vs. lowerclassmen, divided teams by where they are from or one
day we had a draft. It's always a fun and exciting way to end shoot
around.

4
HOURS TO TIP: Pregame
Meal. After shoot around we all wash up and walk over to the Student Union to
eat together as a family before the game. We like to stay on campus for the
meal because it's convenient but also because Gary at the Bistro takes such
good care of us! A typical pregame meal includes chicken, salmon, mashed
potatoes, veggies, salad, bread, fruit and Gatorade, water or lemonade.
After we eat, the team has some downtime to relax and prepare for the game.

1
HOUR AND 5 MINUTES TO TIP: Warm
Up Begins. Our players are required to be on the court and we start with
stretching. We split up the guards and posts and one group stretches while
the other shoots and then it is reversed. The team then completes a few more
shooting drills.

35:00
ON THE GAME CLOCK: Pregame
Talk. The 49ers report to the locker room and here I give last minute
reminders about personnel, opponent tendencies and our keys to victory. All of
this information has already been communicated to the team over the days
leading up to the game, but for some reason, I always feel better telling them
one last time.

22:00: Exit
the Locker Room and Warm Up Continues.

10:00: Return
to the Locker Room. Here the players receive their defensive matchups and then
we allow them time to themselves for any last minute preparation they
might need.

6:00: Final
Exit from Locker Room. When each player leaves the locker room the
last thing they do is slap a sign by the door on the way out. This sign
has a huddle of our team and the following quote, "Toughness is in
the Soul and Spirit, not in the Muscles." It is our goal to be the tougher
team, every night.

5:00: Team
Returns to Court.

From
that point on, I know that most of you fans are in Halton and already on your
feet and cheering on our team. We look forward to your continued support all
season long and hope to see you on Saturday at 7 pm as we take on Elon.

It is great to finally be back writing to you all. I knew
there was something missing, something lacking in my life... finally it dawned on
me what it is, I haven't blogged to everyone in well over six months. A lot has
occurred since then, let's see... ground-breaking on the football field has
commenced, Charlotte's baseball and golf teams secured A-10 Championships, the
NBA is still in a lockout, the race for the Republican Nomination has heated
up, Kim Kardashian got married AND divorced, and activists against corporate
greed continue to gather and protest at Wall Street. But enough about all that,
its basketball season so let's dive right into the good stuff.

As you all know there's a new sheriff in town, her name
should not be new to you, but in case you were like the Chilean miners stuck
underground for nearly 70 days, her name is Cara Consuegra. After reading her
impressive bio you can clearly see she's a winner, not just as a player but as
an assistant coach as well. NCAA tournaments are nothing new to her and she
plans on making that a tradition here at Charlotte. Don't let her fool you
though, despite not having played in quite some time, she's still got game J

We did have an exhibition game this past Saturday vs.
Johnson C Smith. Charlotte came out victorious, however as everyone does in
this business, it was an exhibition game and we have since moved on. Thank you
to all those who came to BE PART OF IT!

Cara's era will OFFICIALLY begin on Friday November 11th,
2011 when Charlotte takes on Presbyterian at 5:00 pm; this will be a doubleheader
with the Men's Basketball team as they play at 7:30. For those people who don't
believe in numbers and coincidences, let me throw this out there for you. We
play on 11/11/11, and Cara will be seeking win number 1... coincidence you might
say? I'll let you be the judge.

Well Forty-Niner fans it's time to go back to work, because
in this industry showing up does not guarantee a win. As many of you are aware,
we have a challenging non-conference schedule. We of course want you at Halton
Arena for our home games, but it is very uplifting for our players to have
familiar Forty-Niner faces behind the bench when on the road. Join us in New
York City or Miami for a tournament, or come to Ohio State or Florida State for
some great non-conference basketball.

I hope to see you ALL this Friday night at 5:00 pm as we
take on Presbyterian.

And I'll leave you with the always great quintessential sign
off... Wear Green and GO NINERS!!!!!!!

This past week has been very productive for our team! We
started out with one last day of 5:45 am practice on Monday and it went very
well. Although we have had several good morning practices, I felt as if this
was our best one! There was a lot of energy and execution of our plays so our
staff walked away very pleased and excited about coming back Monday afternoon
to do it again! We definitely showed a lot of discipline and H.E.A.R. T.

Later in the week we had a scrimmage against our practice
players and it was so nice to see so many players get it done! There were
several players who scored, rebounded and played great defense. This season
will be a lot of fun for all of us associated with 49er Basketball!

We also received news this past week from the Atlantic 10
and their preseason predictions. We were picked to finished 4th in
the Coaches Poll. Pip Woodson was named Preseason First-Team All
Atlantic and Jennifer Hailey was named Second-Team Preseason All Atlantic 10 and also named to the All Defensive Team. We are very excited for
these young ladies and our entire team! There are some very special pieces on
this team and we can't wait for you to come out and see us!

Last but not least, I would like to say how excited I am to
be a part of the 49er Family! My first few months have been very exciting and I
have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know everyone associated with our program!
There is a lot of support from the university as well as our community and that
is exciting for our young ladies. I know they truly appreciate all the support!

In closing, please come out this Saturday night at 7pm as we
play Johnson C. Smith in our exhibition game in Halton Arena. Admission is free so please come and support
your 49ers! And as always "WEAR GREEN"!

I hope you had a great weekend! Last week was a pretty
busy week for the ladies. We started off our Monday with an early
morning practice at 5:45am. It's always tough to wake up for those, but
once we get going you don't even notice the time! We came back that
afternoon and finished the day with another good practice.

Other than that we had a Team Building Workshop on Wednesday
with Felicia Hall Allen. Mrs. Hall Allen is one of the best speakers I've
heard speak. I've had the opportunity to do a team building workshop with
her both as a player and a coach. Every year she does something different
with the team depending on what that particular team needs. She is
absolutely AMAZING! I think it was great to open up with each other, both
coaches and players, and find out what each of us had going on in our lives,
not just on the court, but off the court as well. The team really enjoyed
it.

The following evening we had one of the highlights of the start
of the season which was our Basketball Madness. Every year I think the
marketing staff and everyone involved in putting this event together does a
great job of trying to make it better. This year the highlight of the
evening was the fact that we had a stage set up like All-Star weekend where the
players and coaches came out on when they were introduced. I thought that
was neat! The fun always begins in the locker room where the girls get
all amped up for the evening. Take a look at the picture of the girls and
some other staff members doing the wobble! Some other fun things we did
was a dance with the some of the men's and women's players, a skills contest
and of course the infamous dunk contest. The dance the girls did with
some of the men's players was exciting to see. All in all, everything
turned out great!

We finished the week off with Fan Day on Saturday. After
both the men's and women's teams scrimmaged and signed autographs, we had a
clinic for young kids. This is always a treat to do. The kids
really seem to enjoy it! It's fun watching the players interact and
impact these young lives. I don't think the girls know how much of an
impact they have on these kids. They all did a great job.

Every day we are getting closer and closer to our opening
day! Before you know it, our exhibition game will be here. And
right after that, we will be playing our home opener, which is a double header
with the men, against Presbyterian. Although the season is long, it seems
to go by extremely fast.

So NINER NATION, we hope to see you soon
in HALTON ARENA to kickoff the
season! If you want to be exact, NOVEMBER 5th is the DATE to SAVE. Admission is free and
attendance is needed J So see you soon! And remember, wear GREEN and GO NINERS!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
By Assistant Coach Karen Lange
Practice is
in full effect and the players have been working great. "Break to build" is probably what they feel
like is happening to them sometimes but we are trying to continue to build
Tradition. Tradition never graduates and
it never changes. Everyone leaves a
legacy the question is what is ours going to be. "Winning with HEART" is the first tradition
Coach Cara started. HEART stands for Heart Effort Accountability Respect Toughness. These are the
core values of our program that will never change. "Winning with HEART" is in her office, on our
game board, on our wristbands, the cover of our team manual, EVERYWHERE!!

Ok enough with the serious
stuff...since I'm one of the newbies here I thought I'd give you an inside look
on my take of our players and staff.
I'll start with the freshmen and end with the staff. Enjoy

Ayanna (I call her Ya-Ya she's not used to
that yet): Don't let her quietness fool you - -
she knows exactly what she wants she just might not tell you.
Desiree (Dez):
Can go with the flow no matter
what the flow is
Hillary (Hill): can depend on her to be one of your lifelines when you don't know the
answer
Olivia (Liv): guaranteed to get a smile out of her every day
Gabby (Gab): upbeat, bubbly off the court but has no mercy for ANYONE on the court.
Ny: The sneakiest - - even has a sneaky smirk all the time. Have to watch out
for this quiet one =)
Tiana (T): by far the Tweetingest person I've
ever seen! Always has something to say.
Amanda: by far the quietest unless she is on the dance floor. Want to know the newest dance - - Ask Amanda
Jai: Spiderman lover almost to the point that I need to worry about her.
Jennifer (Jenn):
most likely to give you a hug
and to break out into a song.
Jessica (JJ): She's THAT girl. You know the one
that can absolutely throw down some food and STILL be skinny.
Epiphany (Pip): need to know what the move is in the 704 - - Ask Pip
Katie: if she could play basketball outside in the sunshine
she would
Paige: funniest "under the breath" comments in practice. You want a laugh..stand next to her.
Cara: give me crab legs and a Brewers game and I'm set - - low maintenance
Sabrina (Bri): still "schooling" people in practice even with her nails and eyebrows
done!
Angela(AC): Hi my name is AC. I love ya but don't you dare breathe on or touch my food.
Eric: by far the WORST unhealthy eater known to man
Me: as far as me I guess you would have to ask everyone else. JJ calls me shortstop and the players say I
have some swag so I guess that's a good thing!

Basketball
Madness this Thursday and 49er Fan Day this Saturday.....Green it out!!

Hello Niner Nation and welcome to my first blog as your head coach! I am
writing you from the Philadelphia airport as I await my flight home after a
productive weekend of recruiting. (The blog was written on Sunday, October 9).
There is so much to update you on so here we go...

Most
of the fall was spent on preseason workouts, conditioning and of course
recruiting. Workouts were a combination of individuals and small groups and our
goal was to work on basic fundamentals and begin to install basic principles of
our program. Conditioning was tough as we worked to get into the best shape so
that we can play an up-tempo style this season. Preseason ended with a four day
Boot Camp that included things from flipping tires to players carrying
teammates on their backs to just plain running a lot of sprints. I was proud that
all of our team got stronger and "graduated" from Boot Camp.

We
had several weekends with recruiting visits and we really tried to use that
time for our team to bond and work on our chemistry. My favorite team activity
was playing laser tag because of course as competitors, we really got into it.
Our staff strategized (just like good coaches do) to control an entire area and
we were racking up the points. But soon our team figured it out and ambushed us
from all over. It was good to see them use teamwork off the court.

We
started practice on October 2 so we already have a full week under our belts.
Our rule changed two years ago so we can now start practice 40 days prior to
our first competition. As a new staff you can be sure that we are happy about this
rule. There is so much to learn for both the players and our staff as we get to
know each other. It's very beneficial to have the extra time for all of us to
get on the same page. It's still too early to tell a lot but I can tell you one
thing, this season you will see a team that works hard and takes pride in being
tough.

Well
I'm off to catch my flight so that's all for now. Make sure you circle Nov. 11
on your calendar for our 5 pm regular-season opener against Presbyterian in
Halton Arena. We hope to see you all there!